


Almost Names

by afteriwake



Series: Family Is What You Make It [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Amused Molly Hooper, Domestic Fluff, Established Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, F/M, Family Fluff, First Words, Happy Sherlock, John Ships It, John Watson & Molly Hooper Friendship, Molly is a Good Parent, Names, Proud Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock is a Good Boyfriend, Sherlock is a Good Parent, Sherlock's Heart, Single Parent Molly Hooper, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Unexpected Visitors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 20:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14901131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Joseph’s first word is closer to “Sherlock” than “Mama” but Molly decides the outcome was far better than she ever could have hoped for once Sherlock finds out.





	Almost Names

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadySolitaire83](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySolitaire83/gifts).



> **LadySolitaire83** requested one of my surprise prompts for a Sherlolly fic (" _we are friends and my child's first word was your name and im jealous but also kind of endeared_ ") and I thought with a little tweaking it would be great in this series.

“Mama. Mah. Mah.” Molly looked at her son and smiled. One day, and hopefully soon, Joseph would say his first word. She just hoped it wasn’t anything silly or vulgar. Not that she doubted her friends when they swore up, down and sideways they were all teaching Joseph to say “Mama before they transitioned him to “Mum” when he was a little older, but one never knew. Her first word, for example, had been banana. Mycroft had joked Sherlock’s was “phalanges” and Sherlock had told him to hush or he’d reveal what Mycroft’s first word was, according to their mother.

She was rather sure Sherlock had been trying extra hard to get Joseph to say “Mum,” skipping the other word. She smiled at the thought of walking in on one of Sherlock’s vocabulary lessons. Even though Joseph wasn’t his biologically, he was the best father figure she could ever have hoped for.

“Sh...Sherl,” Joseph said, jolting Molly out of her thoughts.

“Oh bloody hell, he will never let me hear the end of this,” Molly said with a laugh, picking her son up and setting him on her hip. Yes, she had wanted Joseph’s first word to show how much he loved his mum, but this...maybe this was better. Maybe Sherlock would be pleased.

She hoped he was.

She bundled Joseph up and took him out to the curb, hailing a cab. It wasn’t a very long ride to Baker Street, and Joseph was babbling his new favorite word over and over while he reached to grasp her hair. She had the feeling he might develop other words soon but for now, she doubted she would get tired of this one.

When she got to Sherlock’s flat she got out of the cab and carried Joseph and his car seat to the door just as Sherlock was heading out with John behind him. “Oh,” she said. “Case?”

“Yeah,” John said with a grin. “Finally, Sherlock will stop his ceaseless complaining.”

“But my boy is here!” Sherlock said excitedly, unbuckling Joseph from his car seat. “He can come with us.”

“To a crime scene?” Molly asked.

“Just Scotland Yard,” Sherlock said. “Joseph will enjoy it, won’t you? Stimulation for his mind.”

“Sher,” Joseph said, beaming at Sherlock. “Sherl!”

Sherlock’s eyes widened and he cradled him close before looking at Molly. “My name?”

“A close approximation,” Molly said fondly. “His first word...ish.”

“John, the case is a two. Barely a one,” Sherlock said, turning to face the door. “You can handle it on your own.”

“And you?” John asked, a wide grin on his face. 

“Joseph and I have work to do if he’s to say my proper name.”

“I don’t know,” Molly said. “Why can’t we work on mama next?”

“That too,” Sherlock said, waving his free hand. “Molly, if I may borrow your son for a time?”

Molly chuckled and leaned over to kiss Joseph’s forehead and then Sherlock’s cheek before depositing the diaper bag she was carrying in Sherlock’s grip. “Feed him, change his nappies and for God’s sake, put him down for a nap in the next few hours. I’ll go with John and get information on the case for you.”

“Love you,” Sherlock said absently, not taking his eyes off Joseph as they went inside and shut the door behind them. John had gone to the cab and convinced the driver to stay, and Molly joined him. 

“He’ll be good father material, I think,” John said.

“Joseph already has him wrapped around his pinky,” Molly said. “But I suppose I knew he would before he was born.”

“Well, Sherlock loves you both, and that’s what matters, right?”

“Absolutely.”


End file.
